The carcass of a male dugong found in the sea between Thalu and Mun islands off Rayong province on November 25 may be the last of this mammal in the Gulf of Thailand, said Mr Poommet Chumchart, a veterinarian attached to the marine and coastal resources research and development centre, said on Friday.
He disclosed that he found bruises all over the body of the dugong, but no trawl net traces or traces that it might have been attacked with external force. However, he said that when he cut up the body for more examination, he found out that there were traces of internal inflammation and bruises of the muscles throughout the body.
The veterinarian suspected that the 2.63 metre long adult dugong might have been struck with a hard object before its death, but he could not figure out what was the hard object.
He went on saying that closer examination found traces of sea grass in the stomach of the dead dugong, suggesting that the animal was grazing before its death.
From the record of dugongs collected during the past three decades, Mr Poommet said that the dead dugong was codenamed DU-391 or the 391st dugong ever registered.
Divers from the centre will examine the sea grass coastline to find out the traces of sea grass grazing which is unique for each individual dugong. If there are now traces of sea grass graving, it will raise the hope that there are still some dugongs left in the sea, said the vet.
Meanwhile, Mr Thon Thamrongnavasawat, a lecturer at the Marine Science Department of Kasetsart University, wrote in his Facebook page that it was not enough for dugong to be declared a protected species because many dugongs died unnatural deaths, including the latest dugong.
